In the Beginning there was CAKE...

Rolling in from today's critique group meeting. When I say rolling I'm being totally serious. Because of course, there was cake. Yesterday was Lynne's birthday, so we had to (of course) celebrate.

There's a new bakery in the area called Cakewalk -- that's where we picked up Lynne's awesome chocolate/chocolate mousse elephant cake for the last meeting. That cake was so good that this morning I stopped by and picked out some goodies from their case.

Only 5 of us could make it this morning, so I tried to exercise self-control. Here was the damage: one (slightly huge) lemon bar, one (OMG to die for) fudge brownie, two each chocolate & vanilla cupcakes.

And possibly my new favorite thing on the planet: chai cupcakes. Spicy, vanilla-y and covered with the best buttercream frosting you've ever had in your life. Seriously. Amazing.

We also read some great new writing (because really we don't JUST eat cake) -- one first chapter in particular by member Miriam that, were I an editor, I would have put an offer on after reading the first paragraph!

Sadly, I'm not an editor. Sorry, Miriam. But it was utterly riveting & expertly written.

I think that's one of the best things about being in a critique group: you get to witness the birth of a story. Of course, those stories will change over time. Point of view, tense, genre, names, genders of characters -- these may all be completely different by the time it is a polished manuscript. In fact, the first draft may be completely unrecognizable from the final.

But still, to be there at the beginning is really something special. And if there's a chai cupcake sitting next to you at the time -- oh yeah, that's even better.